Tyler's dad Ron Ronald (not making that up) is a dude among dudes. Ron Ronald hosts an annual Octoberfest at his chateau (not an exaggeration) in West Hartford and my family has been lucky enough to be invited 4 years running. The yard behind the chateau surpasses all expectations of a backyard on your typical suburban street where property is under a half acre. His chateau opens up to an actual beer garden with what could be but isn't lighted path, perfect substations for food and beer and pours out into a larger then usual, yet privatized back area that is perfect for the random fire pit or the inevitable 7 year old games of chase with sticks.
Ron likes to drink. He'll have 4-7 taps running in this back yard, a full table of whiskeys and wine and when I say full, I mean the glass is literally covered with bottles. And if you want to hang out inside, the kitchen has 3 taps running too. Ron has that good times look to him, the kind where it appears like he went to a house party in 1976 and never left. He's the original LMFAO, except that he's white, doesn't wear neon glasses and isn't faking a second of it.
Ron's friends are characters too. My favorite is someone who either goes by "Bull" or "Rhino" or something like that. He's rotund, smiley and has the perfect Octoberfest handlebar mustache. He also likes to sing traditional European drinking songs (or I just made up that part of the description of them). But doesn't Just want to do it, he wants to be asked. At some point around 4:35 PM, you'll hear "Bull" loudly pronounce that he just can't sing today and it takes about 13 seconds of light arm twisting for him to be warmed up enough to belt out some German jams. And he's for realz good, so by the time he's gotten his just due of "please please pleases," he's singing.
Bull and his other pals also cook, like homemade freshly ground kielbasas that are ridiculous.
In all, Ron Ronald and his son Tyler and all the people who congregate at Ron's house define good people, fun people.
Ron is a part owner of City Steam Brewery in downtown Hartford. It's a huge space connected to a hotel that probably was killing it when the Whalers played a block away but now caters to those who actually hang out in downtown Hartford. And that scene ain't what it used to be.
Tyler is the type of guy who didn't fall far from the tree. He's a free spirit, fun and interested in good beer. He and I have discussed my dream of having a destination brewery in a mountain setting. A vineyard experience for beer lovers. We brew, we bring in our favorites, we hang out. The problem is, I don't know anything about the business of making beer let alone the actual process of making beer. All I know is I like drinking it and being in nice places when I drink it. So Tyler said to come with him and he proceeded to introduce me to Sam, the new young brewmaster at City Steam. Sam objected to the particular glass I was enjoying and demanded I try his IPA that he recently created for the brewery, Innocence. It was great. He was lit. We talked. Upon Tyler's pushing, he agreed to let me come to City Steam one day and watch him brew and I did and it was fascinating.
He explained the process, the science behind it. I saw the grunt work of the cleaning process and we talked about why having your own pub selling your own beer is about the only way to make my kind of real money worth being in the beer business. Cool. I'm not trying to become a subsidiary of Miller. I just want the coolest brewery spot in the Shenandoah Valley.
So I'm biased because Ron, and Tyler and Sam and their crew are cool and fun and nice and generous and they also happen to make some of the best beer in central Connectciut. Sam was right, his creation Innocence, an IPA might be the best of that bunch.
It's light and crisp, the hops come way late in this one and stay with you. It's got quite a bitter edge to it. But Sam openly admits he loves hoppy beer. The hoppier the better so apparently he's putting his beer where his love is. The bitterness washes away quickly though leaving you almost refreshed. In that regard, Innocence felt a little like drinking sparkling water, but clearly packed with flavor. It has a strict beer aroma and is bronze in color. The pour I gave it left me with a pretty good head but that said there is a trick to Ron's taps that took me three years to figure out or end up with a glass of foam. All in all, Innocence was great.
City Steam's signature beer, The Naughty Nurse, (I know, amazing name) is distributed pretty widely in the area. So City Steam, while a landmark is also a pretty good purveyor. And if you stop in or happen to find yourself with one of their beers, in particular Innocence, you'll thank me.
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